Canadian Transportation Agency’s 2025-2026 Departmental plan: At a glance

At a glance

A departmental plan describes a department’s priorities, plans, and associated costs for the upcoming three fiscal years.

Read the full Departmental Plan

• Vision, mission, raison d’être and operating context

Key priorities

The Canadian Transportation Agency’s priorities for 2025-26 are as follows:

• Resolve the Backlog: Develop and implement the new APPR and accelerate the timely resolution and elimination of the backlog of air travel complaints
• Improve Accessibility in the Transportation System: Leverage all of the Agency's tools to enhance accessibility within the transportation system.
• Enhance Stakeholder Engagement: Engage with participants of the transportation system to advance the Agency’s mandate.
• Cultivate a Culture of Continuous Improvement: Develop an organizational culture of continuous improvement, innovation, and data based decision making to drive the best results for Canadians.
• Build a Diverse and Resilient Organization: Focus on creating an organization that is diverse, inclusive, accessible, resilient, and that fosters a sense of belonging.

Highlights

In 2025-26, total planned spending (including internal services) for the Canadian Transportation Agency (Agency) will be $56,471,531 and total planned full-time equivalent staff (including internal services) will be 416. For complete information on Agency’s total planned spending and human resources, read the Planned spending and human resources section of the full plan.

The following provides a summary of the department’s targeted results for 2025-26 according to its approved Departmental Results Framework. A Departmental Results Framework consists of a department’s core responsibilities, the results it plans to achieve, and the performance indicators that measure progress toward these results.

Core responsibility 1: Independent regulatory and dispute-resolution services for transportation providers and users

Planned spending: $40,085,163
Planned human resources: 325

Departmental results:

• Departmental Result 1: An efficient, competitive national transportation system
  • 1A: Transportation Fluidity Index
  • 1B: Percentage of regulatory authorities issued and determination cases resolved within service standards
  • 1C: Percentage of disputes resolved within service standards
• Departmental Result 2: Consumers have access to justice and protection for air travel.
  • 2A: Number of air travel consumer complaints received per 100 flights
  • 2B: Percentage of air consumer protection disputes resolved within service standards
• Departmental Result 3: Persons with disabilities have access to justice and accessible transportation services
  • 3A: Number of air travel accessibility complaints received per 100 flights
  • 3B: Percentage of accessibility disputes resolved within service standards

For the 2025-2026 fiscal year, the Agency is committed to advancing priorities in our three key areas of responsibility: supporting an efficient national transportation system, providing consumer protection for air passengers, and protecting the human right of persons with disabilities to an accessible transportation system.

With respect to its responsibility to support an efficient national transportation system, in the upcoming year, the Agency will continue its engagement with railways and shippers to complete the legislatively-required review of the Railway Interswitching Regulations and to update its methodology for its major annual grain transportation determination, the Maximum Revenue Entitlement. Monitoring rail system performance will remain a priority, as the resulting insights facilitate cooperation among stakeholders, supporting effective planning and contributing to recovery from future system disruptions.

With respect to providing consumer protection for air passengers, the Agency will continue to advance work stemming from the 2023 amendments to the Canada Transportation Act (the Act). This includes continuing to mature the Air Travel Complaints Resolution Office (established September 30, 2023). The amendments to the Act also require the Agency to cost recover from airlines part, or all, of the costs of the Complaint Resolution Office; to this end, the Agency undertook consultations in Fall 2024, and will determine next steps after reviewing the feedback received. Finally, a regulatory process is underway to make changes to the APPR. After consultation with the Minister of Transport, the Agency published proposed amendments to the regulations in Canada Gazette, Part I, on December 21, 2024. Feedback received through this consultation will be considered as the regulatory process continues in the year ahead.

As it relates to accessibility, the Agency has laid the groundwork for several important initiatives which it will pursue over the coming year, the focus of which will be international collaboration, the training of employees and contractors, and the transportation of mobility aids. The Agency will support the development of a comprehensive accessibility strategy for international aviation by ICAO, and will continue to prioritize the resolution of accessibility complaints and the enforcement of accessible transportation regulations.

More information about independent regulatory and dispute-resolution services for transportation providers and users can be found in the full plan.